Two 'Russian spies' caught in Istanbul

Two Russian "spies" alleged to be involved in the killing of Chechen militant Abdulvakhid Edelgireyev in Turkey were caught in a joint operation that took six months to prepare by the National Intelligence Organization (M?T) and police on April 8 in Istanbul, a report has claimed.

The alleged spies, 52-year-old Iurii Anisimov and 55-year-old Aleksandr Smirnov, were caught while they were doing intelligence work for another plot, daily Habertürk reported. The alleged spies, who refused to talk during interrogations, have been arrested.

According to reports, Edelgireyev was approached by a white car, and was then shot and stabbed by assassins in a car on Nov. 1, 2015, in the Kaya?ehir district of Istanbul. 

Police operations revealed that the car used was rented 20 days before the assassination by Russian citizen Aleksandr Nasyrov, who arrived in Istanbul on Sep. 11, 2015. 

Nasyrov rented two cars every other day between Sep. 11 and Sept. 16, 2015, while in Turkey. The cars were then left in a parking lot in the western province of Yalova.

Nasyrov stayed alone in a hotel in Istanbul and left Turkey on Sep. 16, 2015, from Istanbul's Atatürk Airport. 

According to the report, the police tracked Nasyrov's movements in Turkey and found Anisimov and Smirnov had stayed in a hotel in Yalova in separate rooms between Sep. 11 and 13, 2015. 

They then travelled to Istanbul from Yalova and stayed in two separate hotels in Istanbul's touristic Sultanahmet district between Sep. 14 and 16, 2015.  Nasyrov then met Smirnov and Anisimov close to their hotels. 

No press statement was released after the investigation into the Russians. 

The suspects arrived in Istanbul once again on April 4 and went to...